Social media plays bigger, yet not game-changing role in political activity

Americans are increasingly using Facebook and Twitter to engage in political activity, yet social networking channels aren’t necessarily broadening the sphere of people who are more actively involved in civic activities, a new study said.

The Pew Research Center’s latest report on Internet life showed that 39 percent of American adults took part in some political activity on a social networking service during the 2012 presidential election season, compared to 26 percent during the same period in 2008.

And 17 percent of adults shared political stories or articles on social-networking sites in 2012, while 19 percent posted other political content, a significantly higher than the 3 percent who did so four years earlier, Pew said

Also, 12 percent followed or friended a political figure or joined a group advocating a cause or social issue, compared to just 3 percent in 2008.

Yet Americans who lived in higher income households and with college or graduate educations were still more likely than people with lower incomes or levels of education to be politically active – the same pattern online that is traditionally found offline.

“Despite hopes that the Internet could change the fundamental nature of political participation, it is still the case that the well-educated and relatively well-off are more likely to take part in civic life both online and offline,” senior Pew researcher Aaron Smith said in a statement.

“More broadly, those at the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum are generally less involved with the day-to-day outreach, chatter, and discussion around political issues—regardless of whether those discussions take place in physical or digital spaces,” he said. “Political issues, political activity, and political discussion are ultimately less present in the lives of these Americans than they are for those at the upper end of the socio-economic scale.”

The study also found that Americans were three times as likely to talk about politics or public affairs offline, by phone or in person, as they are online. And 60 percent of political donations are still made in person, over the phone or by snail mail.

The report was based on phone surveys of 2,253 adults conducted between July 16 and August 7, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.